Long time readers of this blog will remember that back in November 2008 (!!!!), Miss T, my lovely next door neighbour, very kindly gave me a bag of clothes which had belonged to her grandma, Gertie, who had just turned 100! As you can see, this dress, although it dates I would imagine, from the 70's era, is in very good condition - almost new infact!
The dress is unlined, with just a facing at the top which makes it a lovely cool summer style dress.
Unfortunately, before I realised that this dress would probably fit me, I was clearing out my stash, making things tidy and chopping up old clothes so that the resulting fabric pieces would fit neatly into a folded pile ..... and so I cut through the shoulders of this dress and then decided to try it on ... doh!
.. Naturally, thanks to the laws of sod, it was a perfect fit and considering that Gertie was at least 90 the last time she wore this dress - more than twice my age - she must have been in pretty good shape! I decided to try to salvage the dress in order to wear this summer because I love the fabric which is quite a heavy weave cotton - perhaps with a bit of linen mixed in, and the style is perfect for me - I'm not a flouncy frilly type of girl and this straight a-line style suits me.
So, here is the dress with frills off, and ready for a bit of 'modernisation'.
I mended the shoulders with some white linen bias binding, and after taking in the side seams by a centimetre each side to compensate for the lack of sleeve, I also bound the sleeve edges with the same binding.
In my stash I found some vintage stretch lace in a lurid colour of green - very 70's!
3 yards was just enough to finish the new hemline, and put a little ruffle around the neck..
Et Voila! One new old dress, finished with vintage trim.
It was much more difficult to take a picture of me in it with my phone!
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